Storybook career ends in Hall of Fame for Lubbock's Norris

Fighting Spirit

Published: Sunday, June 12, 2005

SHAWN KRESTFOR THE AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

CANASTOTA, N.Y. - "Terrible" Terry Norris found himself in some sticky situations during his 12-year boxing career, but nothing like this. Standing on a stage in front of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, surrounded by the sport's living legends, Norris' immerses his famous right hand into a vat of plaster.

"This is a great honor," says Norris. "This is better than winning the world championship."

Friday's Fist Casting ceremony helped to kick off a four-day celebration of the Hall of Fame's 2005 induction weekend. The Lubbock-born Norris, a former world junior middleweight champion, headlines the Class of 2005. Two-time champion Bobby Chacon, Irish legend Barry McGuigan, and Italy's Duilio Loi are the other modern fighters that will join the ranks of boxing immortals in a ceremony this afternoon. Eleven old-timers, managers and writers, most notably Bert Randolph Sugar, round out the Hall's new class.

CHARLES REX ARBOGAST

"Terrible" Terry Norris, right, sends Sugar Ray Leonard reeling in the eighth round of a WBC Super Welterweight Championship fight at New York's Madison Square Garden in this Feb. 9, 1991 photo. Leonard lost a 12-round decision to Norris. The Lubbock native will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

The plaster mold of Norris' fist will be used to cast a bronze replica which will join those of previous inductees in the Hall of Fame Museum. Twenty current Hall of Famers made the trip back to the small upstate New York town just east of Syracuse including "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler, Jake "The Raging Bull" LaMotta and Muhammad Ali nemesis Ken Norton. In addition, dozens of current and former champions such as Sugar Shane Mosley, Leon Spinks, and Houston's Juan Diaz are in attendance. Norris will also be honored by a plaque, and a display containing his ring robe is festooned with balloons for the weekend.

"This was a dream of my Dad's," Norris said. "If not for him, I would not have been a true champion. I thank my Dad and I feel truly great about this accomplishment."

Norris began boxing in Lubbock at age 8, trained by his father. Brother Orlin also benefited from an early introduction to the sport, winning the cruiserweight championship in 1994. The Norris brothers held world titles simultaneously for nearly a year in the mid-1990s and Orlin is still active as a boxer.

Cooperstown, home to the baseball Hall of Fame, is located about seventy miles southeast of Canastota. For much of the early 1980s, it appeared that Norris was a better bet to honored in that shrine. He was a high-school baseball star who attracted the attention of college and major league scouts. While his boxing success, including a 291-4 amateur record, set him on the path to a career in the ring, baseball is still close to his heart. His six-year old daughter is named Diamond.

Norris points to another reason for his decision to pursue boxing, speaking of an on-field incident with an embellishment and exaggeration that would make Don King proud. "I got into a big fight back in Texas, on the baseball field during a game," he says. "I put three guys in the hospital. That made me think, 'You're a better fighter than a baseball player.'"

The flat-top fade he wore in the 1990s has been replaced by a shaved head, but otherwise, Norris looks like the fighter that dominated the 154-pound division for the first seven years of the decade. He won the World Boxing Council title on March 31, 1990 in a ferocious first-round knockout of champion John "The Beast" Mugabi. Though the bout only lasted 2 minutes, 47 seconds, it was long enough to be honored as Knockout of the Year by Ring Magazine.

Norris went on to defend his title 10 times, with seven knockouts. The impressive roster of victims included the biggest names in the sport at the time. His 10 opponents had a combined record of 321-29-5 when they faced Norris. He knocked out former Olympian Meldrick Taylor, the well-regarded Donald Curry and previously undefeated Carl Daniels. However, his most famous title defense went the full 12 rounds. He knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard twice en route to a lopsided decision at Madison Square Garden in February 1991. The beating sent Leonard into one of his several retirements, this one lasting six years.

"Terry Norris stood high in a tough division for about 10 years as he battled the best his class offered," says famed boxing historian Hank Kaplan. "His action style gave glamour and excitement to the junior middleweights."

The last defense in Norris' first reign as champion was a first round knockout of Joe Gatti in September, 1993. The fight lasted less than 90 seconds but was significant for being the only time Norris fought in his home state of Texas. Three months later, Norris lost his title to Simon Brown in a fight Ring Magazine named the Upset of the Year for 1993.

Norris won the title a second time in a rematch with Brown, winning a 12-round decision in May 1994. Then came three consecutive fights with Luis Santana known today as the "Bizarre Trilogy." The journeyman Santana earned a title shot despite having won just two of his previous six fights and three of his previous eleven. He would fight just three more times after facing Norris, but for nine months in 1994 and 1995, he was a thorn in the side of his Hall of Fame opponent.

In the first fight, Norris trailed by a point on the scorecards after four tight rounds. In the fifth, Norris floored Santana with a punch to the back of the head. After a long delay, the doctor at ringside refused to let Santana continue. Because he had been injured by an illegal punch, Santana was awarded the victory, and title, by disqualification.

Norris came out looking for revenge in the rematch, knocking down Santana twice in the first three rounds. A third knockdown came on a punch after the bell in round three, and Norris was disqualified again. Norris finally managed to confine his punches to those allowed in the rulebook and won an easy two-round knockout in the third fight, regaining his title for the third time.

Norris made six successful defenses of his title, highlighted by a victory over bitter rival Paul Vaden in December, 1995. Vaden was recognized as champion by a competing governing body, the International Boxing Federation, and the two fighters had been trying for some time to negotiate a title unification match. "I have no respect for Paul," Norris said at the time. "He's just one of the lowest people on earth. When we meet in the ring, I'll try to kill him."

Vaden responded by writing a poem in which he called Norris dumb and a liar. "Norris and Vaden despise each other with a frightening intensity," observed Ring Magazine in a preview of the fight.

The fight didn't live up to the hype as Norris dominated his arch-rival, adding a second belt to his collection. One judge awarded Norris every round, while the others had him winning 10 and 11 of the 12 rounds.

Norris reigned as champion until the end of 1997, when Keith Mullings took the title from him.

The knockout loss was the first of three straight defeats that sent Norris into retirement with a 47-9 record, including 31 knockouts.